glyphosate
While the internet argues about glyphosate in the abstract, New Zealand's actual rules moved twice in 2025 — a proposed hundredfold limit increase, a sharp reversal, and a quiet High Court ruling. What changed, what didn't, and what it means.
gene technology bill
New Zealand's organic sector just hit a record $1.18 billion, with over 60% exported to markets that reject any GE contamination. Two bills now moving through Parliament could put that at risk — and leave organic growers paying to prove they're clean. Submissions close Monday.
guides
A region-by-region directory of organic vegetable and fruit box schemes and CSAs in New Zealand — from certified-organic urban farms running seasonal shares to nationwide courier subscriptions. Sorted north to south, with certification noted for each so you know what the "organic" actually means.
A monthly recap of everything published — the egg investigation, the Long Drift series, the chicken trilogy, the Real Food Map launch, and a plantation that turns thirty. Plus a quick orientation if it's your first visit.
A curated map of 128 places across New Zealand where you can buy food you can actually trust — organic shops, farmers' markets, growers, refilleries, and suppliers worth knowing about. Not crowdsourced. Hand-checked.
Macro looks like a single organic brand. It's actually an umbrella covering certified-organic, free-range, "wholefoods," and "no artificial" products — only some of which are organic. Here's how to read the difference at the shelf.
New Zealand produces over a billion eggs a year. Fewer than 20 farms produce every certified-organic egg among them. This is a map of what actually exists — and how to find the eggs that match what you're looking for.
Wattie's and McCain are closing. Marsden Point is rubble. The trams are gone. New Zealand keeps dismantling what works — and calling the rebuild progress. This needs to stop.
The word "organic" has no legal protection in New Zealand. Here's what the certification marks actually mean, who issues them, and what sits outside the system entirely.
A new piece most days. Daily investigations into where NZ's food really comes from — sent direct to your inbox.
A regenerative farm and community food hub behind Upper Hutt, gifted into a charitable trust, now grows veg, raises beef and lamb, and butchers its own meat on site. Here's the story, the honest note on certification, and how to shop there.
A friend sent a list of thirty-odd food documentaries. I watched my way through and sorted the ones worth your time — plus where to find them free from New Zealand.
Leave organic potatoes in a dark cupboard and they sprout within weeks; the supermarket bag doesn't. Between paddock and shelf a commercial potato is sprayed at three stages — and at each one the lead chemical is one the EU banned and New Zealand still allows
You can't dig into New Zealand's food system for long without meeting the same people — the growers, writers and advocates quietly doing the work. Here are six of them worth knowing, and a small attempt to say so out loud.
In 2015 NZ committed to building resilient food systems and protecting domestic food production. Four years from that deadline, food insecurity is at a ten-year high, our processing infrastructure is collapsing, and cheap imports are filling the gap — for now.
Standing in the chicken aisle: barn-raised, free-range, organic — three different lives, three different prices, same blue badge. What does SPCA Certified actually certify, how does it compare internationally, and why does the SPCA endorse a higher standard it doesn't require?
Two shops, zero eggs, and the seasonal reason behind it — then a carton of Good Farms "100% Free Range" I'd never noticed, and what happened when I tried to check the claim. A look at daylight, laying hens, and the gap between a label and the proof behind it.
New Zealand has five times as many sheep as people, and sells its lamb to the world. So I assumed organic lamb would be easy to find here. It wasn't. Here's what I found when I went looking — and the missing piece that explains it.
I bought a block of Mainland Organic Cheese this week. Then I turned it over and actually read the back. Non-animal rennet, in a certified organic cheese. Is that legit? The answer turned out to be more interesting than I expected.
In 1985, a British prince converted his farm to organic. People called him a complete idiot. Forty years later, he's the King — and the farm is still going.
A monthly recap of everything published — the egg investigation, the Long Drift series, the chicken trilogy, the Real Food Map launch, and a plantation that turns thirty. Plus a quick orientation if it's your first visit.
Sixty percent of pork in New Zealand is imported. Over eighty percent of bacon and ham. So who's growing the rest? The answer is fifty-eight farms — fewer than the country has Pak'nSave stores. Here's who they are, who makes the best bacon and ham from their pork, and where to buy it.
